I've had apricots on the brain lately, haven't I? Since the recent rescue of the historic J. Gilbert Smith/Los Altos Civic Center apricot orchard in Los Altos, California, I've been pondering: what is the seductive draw of this lovely, scented, peachy colored fruit? And why am I so darned fond of it?
Some of it, I think, is its association with the sunny, dry, California summer days I spent in the open spaces of the San Francisco peninsula of my youth. The rest, I believe, speaks to the richness of the fruit's flavor and the relative shortness of its season. This warm-from-the-sun, sweet, scented fruit is ripe for just a few weeks each summer. And then it is gone.
